Machine for printing on bottles



July 27, 1937. J. H.- FRIDEN I MACHINE FOR PRINTING 0N BOTTLES 4Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb; 20, 1935 INVENTOR.

JOHN FR\DE N ATTORN 5 July 27, 1937.

J. H. FRIDEN MACHINE FOR PRINTING ON BOTTLES Filed Feb. 20. 1955 4Sheets-Sheet 2 v INVENTQR. JOHN HFRmEN BY Wwms July 2-7, 1937. J. H.FRIDEN 2,038,196

MACHINE FOR PRINTING ON BOTTLES Filed Feb. 20, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 IINVENTOR- J0HN H. FRIDEN WIT EYS Jul 27, 1937. J. H. FRI DEN v 2, 88,1 6

'MACHINE FOR PRINTING ON' BOTTLES Filed Feb. 20, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 4INVENTOR- JOHN HFRw EN ATTORNEYS Patented July 27, 1937 MACHINE nonPRINTING'ON BOTTLES John H. Friden, Maplewood, N. J'., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to Anigraphic Process, Inc., New York, N. Y., acorporation of New York Application February 20, .1935, Serial No. 7,344'12 Claims. (01. 101- 10) 'This invention relatesto a new and usefulimprovement in a'printing press, and particularly a printing press to beused for printing on a hard, uneven surface, such as a glass bottle.'The ma- 5 chine may, of course, be used for printing on other surfaces,but is particularly adapted to use in printing on a surface which ismore or less uneven and generally of a curved shape, and moreparticularly on a cylindrical surface.

The particularobject of the invention is to provide a machine which maybe used to print on glass bottles, which are continuously and rapidlyfed through the machine, with one or more colors, by the offset methodof printing.

If the surface of an ordinary glass bottle, such as is used in commercefor a large variety of com modities, such as. beer or milk, for example,is

examined carefully, it. will be noted that the surface instead of beingsmooth and regular, as appears from a casual inspection, is actuallyquite uneven and irregular. In order to print evenly on such a surfaceit is, therefore, necessary to provide means for overcoming theirregularity of the surface itself. In a glass bottle the hardness 5 ofthe surface presents an additional problem in this respect.

A feature of my invention is the provision of means for overcoming theirregularities in a surfaceparticularly the surface of a cylindrical orcurved object, so that a legend or label may be printed thereon evenly,smoothly, and clearly.

Another feature of my invention is the provision 'of springs which holdan object, such as a bottle, in resilient engagement with the platen ofan offset printing press.

Another feature of my invention is the provision of a rubber blanket,mounted on the platen roller of an offset printing press, beneath therubber platen, in order to provide a resilient engagement with theobject 'on which the printing is to be impressed. I I

Another feature of my invention is the provision of means for feeding abottle or similar object to an offset printing press in such a mannerthat the feeding mechanism is stopped during the printing operation topermit the printing to be done, and then during a portion of therevolution of the platen operation of the feeding mechanism is resumedfor removing the bottle which has been printed and for feeding a newbottle to the printing position.

Still another feature of. my invention is the provision of mechanism forintermittently feeding a succession of bottles or similar objects to anoffset printing press, combined with means for stopping said mechanismwithout. damage to the mechanism or the bottle when the bottles becomejammed, or for any other reason damage would result if the mechanismwere not stopped.

. Another feature of my invention is the provi- 5 sion of a pair of jawsfor gripping a bottle or similar object, said jaws being resilientlymounted and having tapered sides for centering the bottle and lifting itclear of the feeding mechanism.

A-further feature of my invention is the pro-. 10 vision of a pair ofjaws as just described combined with suitable mechanism for moving'onejaw towards and away from the other in timed relation with the rotationof the feeding'mechanism and the platen. of an ofiset printing press. 15

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a-front view of my new machine as adapted to effect singlecolor printing on bottles or similar objects;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view along the lines 2-2 of Figure 1, looking inthe direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view along the lines 3--3 of Fig. 2, looking inthe direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged partial view of the mechanism for feeding thebottle to the machine and for gripping the bottle, centering it, andlifting it clear of the feeding mechanism, while permitting itsrotation;

Fig. 5 is a view of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 4 showingthe position of the appa- 30 ratus when the bottle has been gripped andlifted by the jaws and the platen has come into engagement with thebottle; I

Fig. 6 is a side view of a portion of the apparatus in Fig. 5, lookingfrom the left, showing ,the v35 position of the bottle with respect tothe feeding mechanism while the printing is being impressed thereon;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of the platen roller with the cover removedand shows the rubber 40 blanket and platen-over the blanket;

Fig. 8 is a partial front view of a machine hav-- ing a modified form offeeding mechanism;

looking from" the left in Fig. 2, and associated 45" mechanism; and

Fig.'10is a view of an alternative shape of selfcentering jaws; L 1

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout.

A suitable frame work I is provided, to which the apparatus of themachine is attached. A slide 2 is mounted on the front oi. the machineand tilted at an angle such that the bottles twill be fed to the machineby gravity. A second slide 55 3 is mounted on the other side of themachine and tilted at an angle such that the bottles 4 delivered fromthe machine will be removed from it by gravity. The bottles are fed to aspider consisting of a pair of discs 8, 8, having semicylindricalgrooves in their peripheries. The spider is rotated until it reaches theposition shown in Figs. 1, 4, 5 and 6, when it is momentarily stopped. Abottle is then in position to be grabbed by the self-centering jaws Iand 8. The jaw 8 moves to the left, Figs. 2, and 4 (up Fig. 3), so thatthe bottle is grabbed between the two jaws, as shown in Fig. 5. The jawI will ordinarily engage the open end of the bottle while the jaw 8 willengage the closed end.

As may be seen from Figs. 4 and 5, the sides of these jaws are beveledso that when they approach one another the bottle will be lifted clearof the spider and centered between the jaws, as indicated in Fig. Sandin the full lines of Fig. 6. The jaws l and 8 are mounted in suitablebushings 9 and "I so they are free to rotate. The jaws may alternativelytake the form indicated in Fig. 10, in which the left jaw is numbered68, or any other suitable form to lift the bottle clear of the spider.

As the bottle is being fed to the machine and the jaws are picking itup, the platen roller is rotated so that when the bottle is in positionthe platen has come to a point where printing is to commence. The platenthenengages the bottle and, as it is free to rotate, rotates the bottlewith the platen and the impression is printed on the [5 and i6 terminatein the bushings 9, ill in which the jaws I, .8 are mounted. When thebottles are engaged by the jaws and lifted clear from engagement withthe'spider they are therefore resiliently held against downwarddisplacement by the springs l1 and I8 which provide sufficient pressureagainst the rubber platen 26 to maintain.

a strong pressure of the bottle against the platen, and permitsufficient downward movement to overcome the irregularities in thesurface of the bottle. Additional means for overcoming theseirregularities isprovided by a rubber blanket 2| (Figs. 1 and 7) whichis placed on the platen roller 21 and held in position by the rubberplaten 26 which is placed thereover and tightenedand held firmly bymeans of ratchets 22 and 23 and pawls 24 and 25. The machine is providedwith suitable ink feeding mechanism, indicated generally at A, and animpression cylinder 28 for supplying the ink to the rubber platen inaccordance with the usual practice of the prior The motive power for themachine is provided by a motor-28, Figs. 2 and 3, which drives apulley30 by means-of a pulley 3| and belt 32. Pulley 33 is keyed to a shaft,not shown, on which is also mounted a sprocket, not shown, which isengaged by chain 33,- Flg. 2. Chain 33 engages sprocket 34 keyed to ashaft 38 to which is alsokeyed a sprocket 35 which is engaged by asecond chain 38 to rotate another sprocket 31. The platen roller 21 isalso keyed to shaft 33. This shaft, and consequently the platen roller,will be in continuous rotation during the operation of the machine.Keyed to the same shaft is a gear 39 which engages directly orindirectly additional gears to operate the distribution rollers and theimpression cylinder of the ink feeding mechanism, indicated at A. Theshaft. also has suitable cam surfaces for engaging arms 48 and 4| tofeed the ink to the rollers in accordance with the usual practice of theprior art.

It is obvious, of course, that additional colors may be supplied byproviding additional impression cylinders, distribution rollers, inksupply etc., similar to that shown, in accordance with the usualpractice of the prior art.

Mounted on the outer or right hand surface of the gear 38, Figs. 2 and3, is a cam 42 which is engaged by a follower 43 mounted on an arm 44.The arm 44 is pivoted on a support 45 and terminates in a fork whichengages a pin 48 on connecting rod 41 which is journaled forreciprocating movement in a bushing 48. The rod 41 is secured to bracketl3 which is slidingly mounted on arm I I. frame I, pulls the arm 44toward the machine, or upwardly in Fig. 3, whenever the follower 43 isnot engaged by the cam 42.

After the printing has been completed on one bottle, the follower 43engages cam 42 and moves the forked end of arm 44 to the right in Fig.2. This moves the rod 41 to the right and moves the bracket 13 andconsequently the "jaw 8 to the right. The bottle which has been removedfrom engagement with the spider for the printing operation is thusreleased by the jaws, returns to the spider, and is delivered from themachine by the spider to the slide 3.

v The sprocket 31 is keyed to a shaft 50 which is journaled in bushing5| mounted on a support 52. A disc'53 is mounted on the other end ofshaft 50 and engages by friction a second disc 54 to form a frictioriclutch. The disc 54 is.

mounted on a shaft 55, on which is also mounted the spider which feedsthe bottles to the platen roller. A spring SG'surrounds the shaft 50between the bushing 5| and disc 53 to provide the force necessary tomaintain the friction discs 53 and 54 in contact. A'bell crank lever 51is pivoted in a support 58. Disc 54 is provided with a number ofnotches, equal in number to the number of grooves in the discs 5 and 8which constitute the spider.

Tension spring 59 holds the finger on the lower arm 60 of .the bellcrank 51 in engagement with one of these notches to prevent movement ofthe spider. Gear 38 has on its'left face a finger 8|, Fig. 3. The upperarm of the bell crank lever 51, terminates in a finger 62. Once for eachrevolution of the sprocket 28, and consequently A spring 48, which issecured to the once for each revolution of platen roller 21, the

end of arm 83 engages anotch in disc 54 and stops the spider at thisposition. As the spider has been moving the bottle to this position,follower 44 has been in engagement with cam 42. When the spider isstopped at this position the follower 44 has reached the end of the camsurface andsprlng4lpullsthearm44totheleft,?ig.

v and lift it clear of the spider. The platen roller' 3, consequentlymoving the jaw 8 to the left, causing the jaws I and 8 to engage thebottle After it has been returned to the spider, finger 6| engagesfinger 82, causing the finger at the endof arm 68 to leave itsengagement with a notch on disc 54 and permit friction disc 53 to turndisc 54, and consequently to turn shaft 55' and the spider to deliverthe printed bottle to the delivery slide 3 and to pick up another bottlefrom the feeding slide 2 and move it to the position at which it is tobe engaged by the jaws and printed upon by the platen.

Fig. 8 shows analtemative feeding mechanism in which a sprocket 63 ismounted on shaft 55 instead of the spider being mounted thereon. Thissprocket engages a chain 84 which has a plurality of brackets 65, eachadapted to hold a bottle or other object to be printed. The chain 64rotates around a pair of idler whee1s 66, only one of which is shown. Asthe sprocket 63 is mounted on the shaft 55, the chain 64 will move untila bottle is placed in position to be grabbed by the jaws I and 8. Atthis'point, the shaft 85 will stop long enough to permit the jaws tograb, the bottle, raise it to position, engage the platen, and returnitto the bracket. The shaft 55 will then move as before until the nextbottle is in position.

It has been stated above that it is obvious that additional colors maybe added to the machine by simply providing additional ink supply andmechanism similar to that shown at A. It will be also noted that themachine is capable of a variety of, adjustments. The jaw 1 may beadjusted for different size bottles by simply moving it to a newposition along arm II. The jaw 8 may also be adjusted to print on aportion of the bottle which is closer to or farther from the bottomthereof by adjusting the position of jaw 8 along shaft 41. be madeadjustable, if desired, to provide a different degree of resiliencyagainst the platen roller. The rubber blanket 2| being of soft rubber isalso capable of a quite precise adjustmentas to resiliency by regulatingthe degree of ten sion of the rubber platen over the blanket. The spidermay, of course, have grooves of any configuration to take care ofdifferent shapes and sizes of bottles and the jaws may also take avariety of shapes and positions for the same P pose.

In the event a bottle becomes lodged, or in any way the spider becomesjammed,- the jamming will have the same effect upon the disc 54 as.would the engagement of a groove in that disc by the finger on the endof, arm That is, the shaft 55 being moved by friction, when the frictionbecomes sufficiently great the spider will no longer turn, andconsequently will be stopped before any damage is done.

The springs l1 and I8 and the rubber blanket 2|, as well as the rubberplaten 26, all contribute to provide the necessary'flexlbility toovercome the unevenness of the surface of a bottle.

As has been indicated above, this application is particularly designedfor use in printing on The springs I! and 18 may 'bottles and is'thusrelated to co-pending application Serial No. 704,456, of Donald W.Knaggs, flied December 29, 1933.-

From the above description it will be apparent that this inventioninvolves certain principles of construction and operation which may beembodied in other physical forms. I do not, therefore, desire to bestrictly limited to this disclosure as given for purposes ofillustration, but rather to the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A printing machine comprising means for feedingan object to beprinted into alignment with a pair of jaws, means for causing said jawsto engage and center said object for the printing operation andresilient supporting means for said jaws to provide proper printingpressure.

2. A printing machine comprising means for feeding an object to, beprinted into alignment with a pair of jaws, means for causing said jawsto engage said object, said jaws having beveled edges which cause themto lift the object clear of the feeding mechanism, and means forresiliently supporting said jaws. I

3. A printing machine comprising a frame, an arm attached to said frame,a pair of jaws mounted on said arm, a pair of brackets mounted on saidarm beneath said-jaws, apair of springs, one on each bracket supportingsaid jaws, and means for reciprocating one of said jaws to cause thejaws to grasp and release an object to be printed.

4. A printing machine comprising feeding and delivering mechanism, aspider for receiving an object to be printed from said feedingmechanism, bringing it into position to be moved into engagement withthe platen of the machine and delivering it to the delivery mechanism, aplaten roller, means for rotating said platen roller, means for causingsaida spider to rotate in steps, one step for each, revolution of theplaten roller,

in order. to permit the object to be stopped at printing position longenough for the printing operation to be performed, and means for liftingsaid object clear of said spider during the print- 7 ing operation.

5. In a printing machine, feeding mechanism,

delivery mechanism, a spider for receiving an' the rotation of saidroller, whereby an object to be printed may be engaged by said rollerwhile held by said jaws, and resilient means supporting said jaws topress the object to be printed against said roller.

7. In a printing machine a shaft, a platen roller keyed to said shaft, agear wheel also keyed to said shaft, a cam surface on one side of saidgear wheel, a finger on the other side of said gear wheel, an arm havinga cam follower for engagement with said cam'surface, a reciprocatingshaft actuated by said arm in response to the engagement of saidfollower by said cam, a jaw secured to the other end of saidreciprocating shaft, 9. bell crank, the upper arm of said bell crankbeing positioned for engagement by said finger, a second-shaft, a disckeyed to said second shaft, a plurality of notches in said disc, asecond disc, means for driving said second shaft by frictionalengagement of said second disc with said disc,v a finger on the lowerarm of said bell crank for engaging successive notches in said disc toprevent rotation thereof, whereby said second shaft is rotated in steps,successive steps being permitted by the engagement of said sprocketfinger with the upper arm of the bell crank to remove the bell crankfinger from successive notches in said disc in which it has lodged and aspider secured to said second shaft for feeding objects to be printed.

8. In a printing machine, means for feedin objects to be printed to saidmachine, a spider I for moving said objects to printing position, a pairof jaws, means to actuate said'jaws to cause them to grab said object,lift it clear of the spider, hold it in resilient engagement with theprinting roller, and then return it to the spider, and means forfurtheractuating said spider to cause it to deliver said object from themachine.

9. A machine for printing on bottles comprising an endless chain feedingand delivering mechanism, a plurality of brackets mounted on said chainfor holding the bottles, means for 10. In a printingjriachine, anendless chain feeding and delivering mechanism, said mechanismcomprising brackets on said chain for bolding articles, a platen roller,means for rotating said platen roller, means for causing step by stepmovement of said mechanism, one step for each revolution of said platenroller, in order to permit an article to be placed in position beneathsaid platen roller and the preceding article to be removed from suchposition, and means for lifting the article from said mechanism andholding it in resilient engagement withsaid platen roller during theprinting operation.

11. In a printing machine, a shaft, a platen roller keyed to said shaft,a gear wheel also keyed to said shaft, a cam surface on one side of saidgear wheel, a finger on the other side of said gear wheel, an arm havinga cam follower for engagement with said cam surface, a reciprocatingshaft actuated by said arm in response to the engagement of saidfollower by said cam, a jaw secured to the' other end of saidreciprocating shaft, a bell crank, the upper arm of said bell crankbeing positioned for engagement by said finger, a second shaft, a disckeyed to said second shaft, a-plurality of notches in said disc, 9.second disc, means for driving said second shaft by frictionalengagement of said second disc with said disc, a finger on the lower armof said bell crank for engaging successive notches in said disc toprevent rotation thereof, whereby said second shaft is rotated in steps,successive steps beingpermitted by the engagement of said sprocketfinger with the upper arm of the bell crank to remove the bell crankfinger from successive notches in said disc in which it has lodged, anda sprocket secured to said second shaft for driving a mechanism forfeeding the articles to be printed.

J OKN' H. FRIDEN.

